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Jesus Became Sin

2 Corinthians 5:21

The fact that God became flesh is horrendous. But it did not end there. God became sin. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf. It is not that Jesus was corrupted or defiled or impure. Jesus’s righteousness was imputed to us because our sins were imputed to Him. There is a legal declaration of righteousness and a practical declaration of righteousness – God treats us as He treats His Son Jesus Christ – being right with Him. God both legally declared Jesus guilty and God treated Him as guilty.

Jesus knew no sin. We have never loved God as God ought to be loved. There was never a moment that Jesus did not love God as He should be loved. We can say the same with obedience. We are cursed because we have not done all the things written in the law (Galatians 3:10). Jesus completely obeyed and fulfilled the law. But then Jesus bore the curse for us (Galatians 3:13). Turn the beatitudes upside-down and you have defined the curse that belongs to us but were thrown upon Christ.

The blessings and curses from Mount Gerazim and Mount Ebal are a picture of what happened on the cross of Calvary. Jesus Christ was the covenant keeper. We are the covenant breakers. But the curses were taken by Jesus and the blessings fall upon us. God crushed His only-begotten Son on the cross of Calvary. This is the bridge between Mount Gerazim and Mount Ebal.

How can God bless the wicked? How can God be just and the justifier? How can God deal mercifully with Adam, Noah, Abraham, David? Because of Jesus Christ on Calvary. Because Jesus Christ was cursed for them, for me, on Calvary. Jesus Christ took full responsibility for them and for me. This gives a whole new meaning to the command to take up our cross and follow Jesus. It is what happened to Jesus in prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus did not sweat drops of blood and pray that the cup be taken away from Him because of the physical act of crucifixion. It was because He had to bear the curse of all His people and the wrath of Almighty God.

Jehovah Jireh – God will provide. Not a new house, not a new car. God will provide a Savior. God showed His love for me when He did not withhold His Son, His only Son, from me.

The Subtlety of Satan

Genesis 3:1-6

The vast majority of people who call themselves Christian do not believe in the existence of Satan, but rather just an amalgamation of the evil of mankind. However, the Bible assumes that Satan exists.

Genesis 3:1 describes Satan as subtle. It also is translated as crafty. Something that is subtle is not readily obvious. It is something that requires us to think. Satan hides his real intentions by a different outward appearance. The word subtle is related to the opposite of the word naked in Genesis 1:25. Adam and Eve were not hiding anything.

Why is the serpent said to be more crafty than the beasts of the field? Was he not an angel? Because of the fall of Satan, Satan was placed in a position where Adam was to take authority over him in the same way that Adam was to have dominion over the beasts of the field. Temptation comes from those things that should be subservient to us.

The dialogue of Satan with Eve:

1) Satan begins with a question. This question is a twisting of God’s word in order to plant doubt. The question attempts to plant the seed of usurping God’s authority.

2) Eve responds by adding and changing God’s words. She added “touching” and she did not call the forbidden tree by its proper name.

3) Satan contradicts God’s statement of the consequences of eating from the tree. This statement plants a seed of rationalization.

4) Satan then offers Eve an alternative form of happiness. But it is poison wrapped in a subtle wrapper. It is spiritual suicide wrapped in an appearance of happiness.

Satan tried the same subtle approach with Jesus Christ in the wilderness. And this subtlety is the same means that Satan operates in the world today. See 2 Corinthians 4:3-4. This is also seen in Romans 1:18-32.

5) And finally, people deal with the wrong they do by getting everyone else to participate in their sins.

Satan is also subtle in how he deals with the church. Satan does not attack the church openly, but in subtle ways. He just tries to shift the gospel a little.

1) He starts with questions that cause doubt. Did Jesus really do everything needed?

2) He then creates a rationalization about the self-centeredness of the gospel.

3) He then offers an alternative form of happiness – morality and therapy – doing good and feeling good.

What is our response? Be sober-minded, be watchful, be observant, be able to discern, notice the times in which we live.

Satan is subtle. But God is not. And we must not be either. Everything about salvation was/is done in public and is open to scrutiny. See 2 Corinthians 4:2. We must proclaim the full counsel of the word of God in the public arena with no subtlety.

Moral Inability

If men are dead, then my eloquence, logic, and methods do not matter. Manipulation is vain. All that matters is the supernatural power of God. We need to cut out the flesh from our ministry.

Moral Inability – stems from his hostility toward God, his hatred for God, his disdain of God’s commands. Man cannot because he will not. Man would rather be damned than acknowledge the sovereignty of God. See Genesis 37:4 for an example of moral inability. They could not because of their hatred.

Bondage of the Will – man’s will is an expression of his nature. What he is drives what he does. He may be caged, but when let loose, he will act out what is in his heart. That’s why most church members must be bribed or coerced to do what is right.

Free Will – free will is an attribute that belongs only to God. No other being is free. Everything man does is influenced by something else. Man is free to chose, but only based on his nature. See Matthew 12:34-37.

Affections – a nature that is holy has holy affections. An evil nature has evil affections. See Matthew 7:16-20. The fruit is evidence of the nature. Christianity is about the nature being changed by the gospel. The evangelical community will say that a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. But they will not accept that a good tree will not produce bad fruit.

1) A fallen man cannot love God. They may love a god they have made with their own mind. A god who looks just like man.

2) A fallen man cannot know the things of God.

3) A fallen man cannot obey God.

4) A fallen man cannot please God.

5) A fallen man cannot seek God.

Dealing with Souls – do not short-circuit a person who appears to be struggling with the things of God or seeking after the things of God. But you can give them hope. Tell them to seek God.

Irresistible Grace – there is no such thing as people who want to be saved and can’t be saved. And there is no such thing as a person who doesn’t want to be saved and God forces salvation on him anyway. God makes the soil good before the seed is sown. See John 6:44 and John 6:55.

Anointing of the Holy Spirit – Ezekiel 37:1-3. The hand of the Lord must be on the preacher and he must realize that he is preaching to dead, dry bones. Not a fatalist who sees no hope. Not presumptuous to know what God will do. But a person who is dependent on the will of God.

Total Depravity

Romans 3:9-20

1) The universal charge (verse 9). Is there anything in our nature that makes us any better than anyone else? No, because all are under sin, Jew and Gentile. All are subservient to sin, under the bondage of sin.

2) The ungodly characteristics of man (verses 10-17).

a. in his character (verse 10)

b. in his mind (verse 11)

c. in his value (verse 12)

d. in his speech (verses 13-14)

e. in his actions (verses 15-17)

3) The underlying cause (verse 18). Man has no fear of God.

4) The undeniable conclusion (verses 19-20). The evidence is piled up against man to the point where no one can object to God’s judgment.

Depravity of Man

Ephesians 2:1-3

Humanity’s god is humanity. The doctrine of man is the key to understanding all other doctrines of scripture. The fall of man must be looked at through Jesus Christ. Apart from the fall, God could never be known in His fullness. It is only by the cross that that Christ is revealed in all His glory.

1) We cannot understand the greatness of God’s power without a full understanding of the depravity of man.

2) We cannot understand the depth of the love of Christ without a full understanding of the depravity of man.

3) We cannot understand the depth of Christ’s suffering without a full understanding of the depravity of man.

4) We cannot understand grace except it be set against the black backdrop of evil.

5) We cannot understand how much we are forgiven without understanding the magnitude of our sins.

6) We cannot understand the power required in the conversion of man without a full understanding of the depravity of man. This power cannot come from man; it only comes from God.

7) We cannot close the door on self-redemption without a full understanding of the depravity of man.

8). We cannot grasp the importance of preaching the gospel in a biblical manner without a full understanding of the depravity of man.

9) We cannot understand the wrath of God and hell without a full understanding of the depravity of man. Even the restraint of evil in the one who hates God is the common grace of God. The good acts performed by those who hate God is the common grace of God.

10) We cannot appreciate what God has done to/for the converted person without a full understanding of the depravity of man. This leads to love of God and hatred of unrighteousness.

Concepts of deadness:

1) man is not just under the dominion of sin – this is not enough

2) man is not just alienated from God – this is not enough

3) We were dead in the same manner that Christ was dead

Definition of spiritual death

1) unregenerate men are unresponsive to God

2) unregenerate men are alive to all wickedness

3) moral inability is willing hostility

4) unregenerate men hate God

5) unregenerate men have a heart of stone that does not respond to God

What does it mean to be dead in trespasses and sins?

1) the unregenerate man is a discarded corpse that is in a cesspool made up of the sins which have flowed from the corpse. It is into this cesspool that Jesus entered in order to save sinful man.

Federal Headship

Text: Romans 5:12

Adam is not only the common parent of all men, he is also the federal head of all men. That means he served as a representative head of all men. When Adam was placed in the garden, he was acting on behalf of the whole human race. The beginning of federal headship is found in Genesis 1:26-29. The pronouns you and them are in the plural. When Adam fell, the curse fell not only on Adam but all who would come after him.

If the federal headship of Adam is not true, then salvation would not be possible. Because just as Adam is the federal head who passed original sin to all humanity, so Jesus Christ, the second Adam, is also our representative as a spirit that gives life. See 1 Corinthians 15:45. It is through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ that “the many” (see Romans 5:19) will be made righteous. By the sin of one many were made sinners. By the virgin birth, perfect life, sacrificial death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ “the many” will be made righteous.

The Doctrine of Regeneration

Man is a sinner by nature with no idea how utterly wicked and evil they are. Men do not only do evil things, they are evil.

In order for men to be saved, there are two problems to be dealt with:

1) Justification – imputed righteousness before God

2) Regeneration – a new nature

The old nature has evil intentions which come from an evil heart. The unconverted person is sensual, carnal. The Christian however is a new creature that desires to do things that are pleasing to God.

The unconverted religious person tries to shun the wicked things he loves and embrace the righteous things he hates.

The doctrine of regeneration is what makes James 2:14-18 make sense. Works are not the basis for justification. And it is not that we say we have faith and then work to show proof. The fact is that regeneration naturally produces good works as a fruit.

Compare 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 with verse 9. How do you know that the gospel came with full power and with the Holy Spirit? Because they turned to God and away from their idols. So-called Christianity today calls the person to Jesus while letting people retain their idols.

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First Things First

The most important fact necessary before reading this website is to examine yourself to see if you are a Christian. If you are not a Christian, much of this would be ‘Foolishness’ to you.
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1 Cor 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
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If you are not a Christian then I recommend reading the following:

What is a Berean?

Acts 17:11
"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." NIV

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